Today at 4 p.m., a cake topped with 20 candles—one for each year of the company’s life—will light up the booth where Sleeping Bear Press is celebrating two decades of children’s publishing. In 1998, the Ann Arbor, Mich., house released its inaugural picture book, The Legend of Sleeping Bear by Gjisbert van Frankenhuyzen, and soon established itself as a well-respected regional press. With the success of its Legends series and Discover America State-by-State series, which subsequently spawned an Alphabet Book series that encompasses an array of themes, the company gained a national presence in the children’s marketplace. Over the years, it has grown its offerings to include board books, beginning readers, middle grade fiction, and e-books.
Dedicated from the start to publishing books that educate as well as entertain, Sleeping Bear has expanded the size of its list (30–35 new titles are due out in 2018), as well as its scope. “The landscape of children’s literature has evolved, and with that our content has evolved as well,” says publisher Heather Hughes. “Today, best practices dictate that every child should be able to see themselves and their families on the pages of a picture book. Picture books can also serve to open a door to alternative world views.”
Several recent and forthcoming titles, Hughes adds, exemplify the press’s mission of selecting books that offer “empowering stories with strong characters and emphasis on diversity and caring for each other, and for our world.” These include 2017’s Willow and the Wedding by Denise Brennan-Nelson, illus. by Cyd Moore, starring a girl who’s flower girl at the wedding of her uncle and his husband; My Family Four Floors Up by Caroline Stutson, illus. by Celia Krampien, a January 2018 release about a girl and her stay-at-home dad; and two fall titles spotlighting strong women from history: Aim for the Skies: Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith’s Race to Complete Amelia Earhart’s Quest by Aimée Bissonette, with art by Doris Ettlinger; and Lindsey McDivitt’s Nature’s Friend: The Gwen Frostic Story, illus. by Eileen Ryan Ewen.
Sleeping Bear has an assortment of giveaways and art raffles at the booth, as well as several authors who will be signing in-booth (2864) today and tomorrow.
